World AIDS Day: Staying sober amidst promising strides

There is a lot to be thankful for this year in terms of the AIDS epidemic, specifically the recent strides made in HIV prevention research. The CAPRISA 004 trial results and the recent results from the iPrEx PrEP effectiveness trial (which showed that once-daily Truvada reduced risk of HIV infection in gay men, transgender women and other men who have sex with men by an average of 43.8%) are something to be celebrated!

Unfortunately, despite these landmarks, UNAIDS reports that an estimated number of children living with HIV or AIDS in 11 Asian countries has increased by 46 percent between 2001 and 2009; that for every one person starting HIV treatment, there are two new HIV infections; that new HIV infection rates have increased by 25% in countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; and, that the global economic struggle has resulted in a massive decline in international funding for AIDS programs.

Sigh.

But – everyone likes a challenge, right?

What’s next?

Banyana Banyana Comes Up Short

When I get older, I will be stronger...

Over the course of two weeks, South Africa hosted the 2010 African Women’s Football Championship, where sixteen matches were played and 58 goals (3.63 per match) were scored. This tournament was especially important as it influenced with teams would qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Germany. For South Africa, it was do or die. In order to advance to the World Cup, they had to win this tournament. A loss? No chance for the World Cup.

Prior to the semi-final match between South Africa and Equatorial Guinea, a team of Show Me Your Number ambassadors, including myself, engaged with game-goers about safe sex. Handing out material is always an interesting experience. Unlike Americans, who do pretty much anything to avoid handouts on the street, South Africans take everything with pleasure – and come back for more.

Banyana Banyana warming up

Condoms tend to be a little bit more difficult to get rid of. People tend to be shy about taking them – well, the women anyway. The men, they’d take 50 if they could. In the end we handed out over 1000 condoms in under 20 minutes.

Once we ran out of materials, we went to watch the game, where South Africa dominated in the first half (without being able to score a goal) and fell apart in the second half, even accidentally scoring on themselves within the last few minutes of the game. It was pretty disappointing, especially since we are friendly with the captain of the team (who scored the accidental goal)

In the end it was Nigeria that beat out Equatorial Guinea for the title.

Vuvuzelas making an appearance

In Honor of Women’s Month

In honor of Women’s Month, which takes place in South Africa in August, SMYN brought together female football legends, a panel of distinguished guests, and young up and coming female footballers for a community dialogue to discuss the social ills women are faced with in South Africa. Given the fact that the majority of the work we do is with men (both young and old), it was a nice change of pace to do something for the young women in the community.

At the community dialogue, the MC interacts with the young women in the crowd.

Over the course of two hours, young women from Mohlakeng, Orange Farm and Mamelodi engaged with panelists regarding issues relating to inequitable gender relations, education, women’s susceptibility to HIV and AIDS and their powerlessness in society. To be honest, I’m not sure how much these young women really embraced what was being shared with them, but I don’t think that’s abnormal given the fact that they were between 14-17 years old. I don’t remember being too keen on addressing issues like this at that age either.

Ladies kicking butt on the pitch.

In addition to the dialogue, we hosted a 5-a-side tournament between four female teams. Dona’s Mates excelled in all of their games, and at the end of the tournament, a select team played in a game against the SA female legends representing Show Me Your Number. Whilst the legends won the game (7-4), the young women enjoyed the opportunity to play with and learn from their idols. Overall, despite the fact that we were hoping for more people to attend the event, those who did attend enjoyed what we had to offer and everything ran smoothly.

“We are almost there”

For those of you who work in the field of HIV prevention, you’ve likely heard the news coming out of the 2010 International AIDS Conference in late July regarding microbicides. I’m a little late myself reporting on this, but given that I worked in the field of HIV prevention research, I’m pretty excited and wanted to share with those of you who don’t know.

Over the course of two years (2007 – 2009), a clinical trial testing a microbicide gel in women in South Africa took place. This trial, the CAPRISA 004 clinical trial, assessed the effectiveness and safety of 1% tenofovir gel in preventing HIV infection in women. Results showed that when used up to 12 hours before sex and 12 hours after sex, that the gel provided moderate protection from HIV infection for women. At the end of the trial, researchers found that tenofovir reduced HIV infections by 39% (and up to 54% in individuals who showed high adherence).

There are a lot of technical things that go into clinical trials and what these results mean, so feel free to email me to ask questions. I’ll do my best to answer them, or at least refer you to the right people. You can also check out the Global Campaign for Microbicides, AVAC,  and The International Partnership for Microbicides for a more comprehensive explanation of what microbicides are, how they work, why they’re necessary, and what these trial results mean in the grand scheme of things.

Basically, what this means is that women, who due to gender inequities and powerlessness in relationships, may now have a new mode of protecting themselves from HIV infection. Some might ask why these women don’t use condoms – the fact of the matter is that many women in developing countries (heck, in developed countries) don’t have the ability to negotiate condom use with their partners. This leaves them susceptible to all sorts of infections, including HIV.

These encouraging results are only the beginning of a long road to providing a safe and effective HIV prevention product to women, but given more discouraging results released later last year, this is a great step forward. These results add fuel to the already burning fire and will eventually help to provide effective HIV-prevention products to the millions of women worldwide who most need them.

In the words of an advocate I met last week: “Doctors and scientists – please don’t stop your research. We are almost there.”

Football for Hope

In an effort to promote its role in using football as a tool for social development, FIFA developed the Football for Hope Festival, to be launched in Alexandra, Johannesburg for the first time, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Manning the tent at the Football for Hope Festival

Some background on Alexandra: Established in 1912 in an attempt to establish a white residential township (with little success), Alexandra was deemed a “native township” that same year, meaning that it was one of the few urban areas in South Africa where black people could own land. Plagued by lack of resources and poor management, Alex has experienced a history or violence (including xenophobic attacks as recent as May 2008) and upheaval. Many of my co-workers told me that when they were kids, they were warned from going to the Alex due to the dangers that lurked there.

Over the course of one week (4-10 July 2010), FIFA brought together 32 teams from across the globe representing organizations that use football as a tool for social development at the Football for Hope Festival.  The 32 teams/organizations participated not only in a week-long 5-a-side football tournament (à la World Cup style), but also in workshops and activities where they showcased their programs and learned from other like-minded organizations from around the world.

At the request of FIFA, Show Me Your Number distributed information regarding HIV prevention and provided free HIV Counseling and Testing to Festival goers. Throughout this week long Festival, Show Me Your Number tested over 200 people and brought HIV prevention messaging to hundreds of festival participants and spectators in the Alexandra township.

In addition to these activities, Show Me Your Number was asked to put together a team of former professional players to play a five-a-side All Star Match. Check out an action shot of the guys playing the stadium below…

Getting dirty

HIV Counseling and Testing Campaign Launched!

Big work news!

After over a year of preparation, South Africa launched its national HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) campaign last Sunday in Johannesburg. Coordinated by the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), it’s the largest testing campaign to ever be taken on by a country, and forms part of the government’s new measures in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

In a country where nearly 5.7 million people are living with HIV and AIDS, the objectives of this new campaign are to test 15 million people (one-third of the population), reduce the rate of infection by 50 percent by 2011, and provide ARV treatment to 80 percent of those who need the treatment.

In an effort to support this campaign, the Sport & Entertainment Sector of SANAC (where I work) is using the World Cup as a platform to emphasize prevention through information, education, widespread distribution of condoms, and mobilization of millions of South Africans to know their HIV status.

It’s about pushing a preventative healthcare approach as opposed to a curative one and doing something about those people who die of AIDS every day because of avoiding getting tested in the first place.

I’ll be attending the provincial launch of the campaign in the Mpumalanga District this Friday. Updates forthcoming…

Sex Talk

I feel like I should take the time to let any readers (are you there?) know that there will be a lot of sex talk on my blog. Since the work I do here revolves around HIV awareness and prevention, I can’t really help it. I know that some of you won’t care, but that others will, and for that I am sorry. I’ll try to balance the HIV-related posts with those about my adventures in exploring South Africa.

But not this time.